Pirates Draft Roundup

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked GM Neal Huntington if Tony Sanchez had more upside and talent than the other players available when the Pirates picked fourth. Here are a couple of points Huntington made in his reply to Kovacevic:

"We did not take the player we felt had the highest upside on the board with the Sanchez selection, but we did select the player who was at the top of our board at the time."

Huntington says upside isn't everything, pointing out that it's risky to draft high school pitchers.

"If Stephen Strasburg or Dustin Ackley had slipped, we would have likely altered our approach to the draft and committed greater resources to either of them."

Instead, the Pirates plan to commit to a group of talented players, according to Pat Mitsch of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Huntington and his staff drafted 21 players who are demanding bonuses of $100k or more, and he expects to sign many by recruiting well and being "very aggressive."

The Pirates were criticized for taking Sanchez when they did, but, as MLB.com's Jen Langosch reports, draft expert Jonathan Mayo praised the Pirates' approach on day two.